Moral panic
A moral panic is a reaction by a group of people based on the false or exaggerated perception that some cultural behavior or group, frequently a minority group or a subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses a menace to society. It has also been more broadly defined as an "episode, condition, person or group of persons" that has in recent times been "defined as a threat to societal values and interests." [1] They are byproducts of controversies that produce arguments and social tension, or aren't easily discussed as some of these moral panics are taboo to many people.
These panics are generally fueled by media coverage of social issues, although semi-spontaneous moral panics do occur. Mass hysteria can be an element in these movements, but moral panic is different from mass hysteria in that a moral panic is specifically framed in terms of morality and is usually expressed as outrage rather than unadulterated fear. Moral panics (as defined by Stanley Cohen) revolve around a perceived threat to a value or norm held by a society normally stimulated by glorification within the mass media or 'folk legend' within societies. Panics have a number of outcomes, the most poignant being the certification to the players within the panic that what they are doing appears to warrant observation by mass media and therefore may push them further into the activities that lead to the original feeling of moral panic.
The influences and behaviors of young people are common themes in many moral panics.
Origins
The term was coined by Stanley Cohen in 1972 to describe media coverage of Mods and Rockers in the United Kingdom in the 1960s. A factor in moral panic is the deviancy amplification spiral, the phenomenon defined by media critics as an increasing cycle of reporting on a category of antisocial behavior or other undesirable events.
While the term moral panic is relatively recent, many social scientists point to the Middletown studies, first conducted in 1925, as containing the first in-depth study of this phenomenon. In these studies, researchers found that community and religious leaders in an American town condemned then-new technology such as the radio and automobile for promoting immoral behavior. For example, a pastor interviewed in this study referred to the automobile as a "house of prostitution on wheels," and condemned this brand new invention for giving citizens a way of driving out of town when they should be attending church.
Examples
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Commonly cited examples of moral panics inspired by real or imagined phenomena include:
- Armour-piercing ammunition, often dubbed "cop-killers" due to the misconception that armor-piercers are often used by civilians to defeat police body armor.
- Bestiality, in Washington USA, in the wake of the 2005 Kenneth Pinyan affair, and in Missouri in the wake of the Jerry Springer Show episode 'I married a horse'.[2]
- Comic books as a source of deviancy in the 1950s. See: Seduction of the Innocent by Fredric Wertham
- Communism - see McCarthyism in the 1950s.
- Day care sex abuse in the 1980s.
- Gel bracelet - The urban legend of girls' bracelets representing sexual favors in high school.
- Marijuana - see Reefer Madness.
- Mods and Rockers caused moral outrage in Britain in the 1960s.
- Pedophilia, Child sexual abuse - fear of "molesters" makes for sensational news - an ongoing tabloid newspaper campaign in the UK resulted in the (incorrectly) reported [1] assault and persecution of a paediatrician by an angry mob (which had confused the two words) in August 2000 [2], and in 2005 a man in Manchester, England was killed by knife after being mistakenly accused of child molestation by an insane man in the neighborhood. [3] [4]
- Pit Bull Attacks - the media-fueled belief that the pit bull breed of dog is a "ticking time bomb" and more prone to attack people than any other breed.
- Rock 'n' Roll music - protest of violent, rebellious, or sexual lyrics from 1950s to present.
- Gangsta Rap and hip-hop in general over lyrics that pertain to criminality, materialism, drugs, sex, anti-establishmentism, misogyny, and racism from the early 1990's to the present.
- Role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons
- Social networking sites, such as MySpace - fear of predators stalking teens. [3]
- Violence in video games
- The zipper - clergy in the 1920s and 1930s decried zippers as allowing one to take one's clothes off too quickly, thus hastening illicit sexual activity.
See also
- Category: Moral panics
- Book burning
- Conspiracy theory
- Crowd psychology
- Culture of fear
- Folk devil
- Mass hysteria
- Missing white woman syndrome
- Media hype
- Propaganda
- Scapegoat
- Socionomics
- Witch hunts
References
- ^ * Cohen, Stanley. Folk devils and moral panics. London: Mac Gibbon and Kee, 1972. ISBN 0-415-26712-9 p. 9
- ^ Pinyan was the passive partner in an act of sexual penetration by a stallion videotaped by a friend. This was the only incident of its kind in the state's history, and it could be said the human, who died from internal injuries, was the victim of his own act. Police concluded there was no evidence of animal abuse and that the only crime was the relatively minor one of trespass. None the less, almost instantly, legislation was proposed in a form of moral panic, covering every aspect conceivable: the act, the videotaping of the act, the knowing granting of permission for the act, the observing of the act. SB-6417 2006.
- ^ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5182960
External links
- 'Moral Panic' and moral language in the media
- Another paper on moral panics
- 'Moral Panics Over Youth Culture and Video Games' thesis paper
- Course notes on moral panics
- References to 'moral panic' in the British media This site-specific Google search returns references to moral panic at the BBC News website and those of respected British newspapers giving an interesting view of the subject.
- Rockers
- Islam and Moral Panic
- Moral panic over moral panics
- Article on the Myspace moral panic
- A book about the moral panic over the inner city